I started looking at sugar alternatives, but then I realised the only food I use a large amount of sugar in is cake. And cake isn’t something I eat every day, so that’s ok. I bought some coconut sugar out of curiosity and it’s delicious. But I can’t really taste that delicious flavour in cake, so I’m going to keep it for sprinkling on top of things. I did end up getting xylitol to use for healthier weekday treats though.

AnneMai 30, 2016 - 16:42

I appreciate your viewpoint. Food has become something that takes a great deal of time and energy to investigate and then prepare. The sands seem to shift constantly – especially when it comes to sweeteners. I do have to say that a piece of cake in my body reacts differently than in the body of a diabetic or someone who does not have blood sugar issues. For some people sugar is toxic – for others – it appears to have no beneficial or negative effects on health. I have Reactive Hypoglycemia, inborn type. This is different from diabetic hypoglycemia – as I am not diabetic. When I eat, whatever I eat, my blood sugar rises normally but the insulin spikes very high – and then brings blood sugar down quickly. When I eat low carb and no sugar, the effects are reduced. Because of a health condition – people are seeking any known cause and it makes sense to look at food and exercise. Wheat is known to have several toxins not due to the wheat itself but how it is harvested. If you can eat something – do so – but it may create problems – and then – what will you do?

MihlMai 30, 2016 - 17:14

I am sorry to hear about your condition, Anne. I wrote this post with the average person in mind, who does not have any problems when eating sugar in moderation. It clearly does not apply to people who do have problems and need to restrict their sugar intake.
Same goes for wheat. That grain has been an important and central part of many European diets. Also, I am not really sure what you’re referring to when you talk about „toxins“ in connection with wheat but I found this article interesting:http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/roundupwheat.asp
Is that what you where referring to?

Mihl, I love this post so much. Like many other commenters, I also enjoy maple syrup and agave (though agave is plenty demonized these days, too) — but I also use cane sugar in my cooking, all the time. And I have no interest in making cookies or brownies out of chickpeas and xylitol. If that’s a person’s taste preference, that’s fine — it’s not my place to tell people what they should enjoy eating! But I don’t feel the need to turn everything I eat into health food, whatever that means, and I prefer the experience of desserts made with flour and sugar, etc.

This post is really rich, and your thoughts stretch far beyond sugar alone. I appreciate it, and I’ll be sharing!

This should be required reading for absolutely everyone, bakers and eaters alike. Brilliantly said, easy to understand, and so deeply wise. I’m sharing this with anyone willing to click. Thank you for taking the time to lay it all out on the table!

I could not agree more with everything you’ve just said. For a long, long time I struggled to keep up the guise that as a vegan I was always eating healthy food. But I don’t. I love baking cakes and pastries and god do I love white flour. And it sucks that so many people have the idea that vegan = healthy and will promptly shame you for making vegan food that is full of white flour and sugar and fat. I went vegan for the sake of animals in the food industry, not because I wanted to feel morally superior for eating brownies made out of black beans and dates and claim to be the pinnacle of health. If eating coconut sugar and putting kale in your cookies sounds good to you, great! Do it. If you want to make vegan croissants out of white flour and refined sugar– shine on and share them with me, please! :)

So thank you for putting so eloquently into words what I have struggled with for eight long years ??

MihlMai 24, 2016 - 18:02

I also think it’s sad that there’s either healthy or not. We can enjoy so many different foods! So yes to white flour and kale:)

Great reading (and I really loved that Ruby Tandoh article. I love your attitude that it is nice to have cake and totally agree

I am always curious about new products and new tastes so I have a range of sugars in my pantry including coconut sugar, white sugar and brown sugar. I don’t use coconut sugar so much because it is expensive but enjoy it sometimes and I love maple syrup for the taste but again I can’t afford to cook with it all the time (and it doesn’t work in everything anyway). But I often come back to regular sugar because it works so well in recipes. And sometimes it is nice to know I am using the same stuff my foremothers used and it still tastes good.

RachelMai 18, 2016 - 14:56

Thank you! I find my head nodding as I read this. Just spot on, and I love that you mentioned subversive food combining! Such a neat concept, especially for those of us with histories of eating disorders.

KatrinMai 18, 2016 - 13:25

I can only say thank you. This needs to be said and heard more. Especially around children if we don´t want to see parts of a generation grow up completely paranoid around food. So, thanks again.

Well said! I am so sick of all the ‚this food is evil’… ‚this food will kill you’… blah blah blah blah….
I was recently invited to a screening of some sort of Sugar Is Evil type movie, which I declined.
Often when I do bake sales people will ask if everything is sugar free… nope. Just because it is a vegan bake sale doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of sugar. It is a table full of sweets!
Sugar is one of the first things I will sub for in a recipe that is calling for some sort of fancy, expensive type. I did buy coconut sugar once… but so expensive! I use raw, white or brown sugar that I can buy nice and cheap from the grocery store, and it works just fine for me!

MihlMai 18, 2016 - 17:26

I think I saw a trailer for such a movie once and that was it. I had to eat some candy afterwards.

Another things that bugs me is how people use the term sugar-free, especially in german. Most of the time they just mean there is no white sugar in the recipe. And then they use brown sugar that is just white sugar plus molasses.

It’s all about marketing and profits and the food is incedental when you can make a tonne of cash out of trending something. Think about all of the „superfoods“ that have fallen by the wayside because they might be cram packed with nutrients but they taste like crap and people stopped buying them after they realised this. People stop buying, trend officially „over“. Money making potential for „superfood“ gone. Go find yourself a new superfood. You are right about sugar. The new food police have left peanut butter alone for 10 minutes (you can be sure they will be back there soon…) and are onto it like a tick on a dog. The sad thing is that people believe this tripe. We are mentally eating up this mass marketing and it’s worse for us than sugar could ever be. Thank you for sharing this honest post with us all. It’s a lone voice in a world that appears to have become sugar phobic.

I think people should eat the foods (including sweeteners) they enjoy, and do as you do to balance their diets by eating whole foods along with other more processed foods. I don’t think eating all refined foods all the time is a good idea, but I’m not willing to tell people what to eat. I’m one of those weird people to whom everything tastes too sweet. I rarely ate cake when I was young because it was unpleasantly sweet in my mouth, so learning to make it with whole grains and less processed sweeteners allowed me to enjoy ’sweets‘ for the first time. Even now, I have trouble eating commercial vegan cake or ice cream because it tastes so sweet! I also have a low tolerance for fatty, rich foods, making me a perfect ‚example‘ of a ‚healthy‘ eater. Please don’t disown me for following the tastes I prefer! I have a big bag of natural sugar and a big bag of coconut sugar (both from Costco) and they last for ages in my kitchen, but I’d never use xylitol or erythritol. I also don’t think gluten is bad for you. I experience extreme cramping (and other things) when I eat wheat, so I forego it, but I’d never tell anyone else to avoid it for no reason. There’s room for all of us on the food continuum. Your recipes and photography are an inspiration!

MihlMai 17, 2016 - 20:57

You don’t have to justify your way of eating and I hope you didn’t get the impression that I will give everyone with a different lifestyle the silent treatment. It’s always interesting to hear your thoughts! And this is exactly what my blog post is about, there are different approaches and none of the should be seen as superior. And I defintely won’t force you to ear cake:)

veraMai 17, 2016 - 20:03

Well said Constanze! Moderation is key to a happy life… that’s my motto…

Yay! A voice of reason in the minefield that is food ingredients! The last time I heard someone say „I eat sugar for pleasure“ was in the 80’s!

TamarMai 17, 2016 - 19:28

I thought the objection to white sugar is the purification process using bone charcoal?

MihlMai 17, 2016 - 19:30

Not always. There are lots of white sugars that are labeled as vegan, I think. Here in Germany (and many other European countries, as far as I know) sugar is made from sugar beets and there’s no bone char involved in the refining process.

NorineMai 17, 2016 - 19:06

Wow. I really appreciate it when someone injects some sanity into what has become an insane world. They used to talk about prisons as being places where you got only „bread and water“. We don’t live in a prison and shouldn’t have to feel like we do. Nice job outlining the all the issues; this is a complex topic.

Yes! Thank you for this. I agree all around. I’ve flirted with sugar alternatives in the past, but ultimately I’ve always come back to good old cane sugar. I do love the flavor of maple syrup, but it’s just way too expensive to use in large quantities. I’ll keep it on my pancakes where I can really taste it!

MihlMai 17, 2016 - 19:17

I also love maple syrup on pancakes!

CelineMai 17, 2016 - 16:26

While I do enjoy the flavors of these other sweeteners you mention (especially maple syrup both in liquid or powder form), I definitely cannot afford to fork out the money for them all the time either.
Right now, my go-to sugar is good ole cane sugar too. And there’s nothing wrong with that! I agree with you that a lot of kale here and a bit (or a lot) of cake there is the way to go, so high fives to you for this post.

MihlMai 17, 2016 - 19:22

I don’t wanna say that nobody should use these sweeteners. I mean, I love maple syrup myself and I think it’s great when people have the chance to try these things. And my maple syrup goes a long way when I put it on a pancake instead of in a cake.